Alle toplui van ISIS hebben gevangengezeten in Guantanamo, in gevangenissen die door Amerikanen beheerd werden in Irak, zoals Camp Bucca, waar de leider Al-Baghdadi van 2005 tot 2009 gevangen heeft gezeten en elders in geheime complexen (gevangenissen) in het Midden Oosten.
“In 2014, it was reported that Al-Baghdadi was in US custody in 2005, and was held at Camp Bucca, a US-controlled detention facility in Iraq, until he was transferred to Iraqi control in 2009 and released later that year under an agreement signed by President George W. Bush the previous year. During an interview, US Army Col. Kenneth King, the commander of Camp Bucca at the time of al-Baghdadi’s detention, verified his containment and release in 2009, and revealed that al-Baghdadi’s departing words were: “I’ll see you guys in New York.” However, according to US Department of Defense records, al-Baghdadi was held as a “civilian internee” at Camp Bucca by US Forces-Iraq from early February 2004 until his release in early December 2004. A Combined Review and Release Board recommended the “unconditional release” of al-Baghdadi and there is no record of him being detained by the US at any other time.”